“So they found one of Our servants on whom we had bestowed mercy from Ourselves and whom we had taught knowledge from Our Own Presence. Moses said to him, ‘may I follow you on the condition that you teach me something of the Higher Truth which you have been taught?’ The other said, ‘Surely you will not be able to have patience with me.'”

From these verses, we see that even though Sayiddina Musa (as) was a prophet, and was the only prophet to speak with Allah directly (Kalimullah), nevertheless Sayiddina Khidr possessed knowledge which Musa did not have, and which Musa sought to obtain from him, because Sayiddina Khidr was receiving knowledge directly from the Presence of Allah (‘allamnaahu min ladduna ‘ilma). And that person was one of Allah’s Friends, as described in the verse above. From these verses, as well as the ones mentioned above, we see one of the many daleels for following a guide, or shaykh at-tarbiyya, in the technical terminology of Tasawwuf.

“those who are striving in Our Way, we will guide them to Our paths, for verily Allah is with those who do right.”

Most of the great scholars of Islam were practicing tazkiyyat an-nafs and trying to reach the state of Ihsan. They are the ones who spread Islam in Central Asia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Bosnia, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Indo-China, Spain, Eastern Europe, and most of Africa. All of these scholars who were practicing Tasawwuf spread Islam through these countries through their states of zuhd, wara’, taqwa and tazkiyya, which made them so attractive and so appealing to the people with whom they associated, that they were automatically drawn to Islam.

Author Spotlight

Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad

Dr. Gibril Haddad was born in Beirut in 1380/1960. He embraced Islam while a
graduate student in French Literature at Columbia University in New York. He
lives in Brunei Darussalam. Since 1997 he has translated and published the
following texts:
At Al-Qur’an wal-Sunna Association (AQSA), Birmingham, UK:
Albani and His Friends: A ... Read Full

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What is Sunnah?

The Arabic word Sunnah lexically means "road" or "practice." In the language of the Prophet {saw} and the Companions it denotes the whole of lawful practices followed in the Religion, particularly the pristine path of Prophets, whether pertaining to belief, religious and social practice, or ethics generally speaking.